literature review workshop - university of nevada, las vegas · 2019-12-21 · 1. think about how...

Writing a Literature Review for

Engineers Sue Wainscott STEM Librarian, UNLV Libraries

Julie Longo Technical Communications, Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering

[email protected]

Contents

HOW TO CONDUCT A QUALITY LITERATURE SEARCH

Purpose of a literature review

Getting started

Search strategies

Keeping up to date

Organizing your material

Reading and evaluating your material

When are you finished with your literature search?

HOW TO WRITE A LITERATURE REVIEW

Refresher: How to read a paper critically

Levels of writing a literature review

How to organize your material before writing

Writing a Level I literature review: biblographic annotation

Writing a Level 2 literature review: contrast and compare

Writing a Level 3: integration and synthesis

These workshops count towards the Graduate College

Research Certificate Program.

You may want to apply for this program.

Introductions

• Please introduce yourself to the group, including:

• Your name

• Your department

Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/29792566@N08/6140852961

Brainstorming!

When you hear

the phrase

“literature

review” what

words come to

mind?

Any & all!

Good, bad,

indifferent…

Type your answers here:

http://padlet.com/sue_wainscott/litrev

Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brainstorming.png http://padlet.com/sue_wainscott/litrev

http://padlet.com/sue_wainscott/litrev1

Purpose of a Literature (Lit.) Review

• Demonstrate your knowledge

• Explain how your research fits into the

context of what is already known

• Determine if your research idea is new

and interesting

• Give credit to and summarize the work

of the other researchers who have

written about the topic

Image from https://pixabay.com/en/question-mark-question-response-1019820/

Getting Started with Your Lit. Review

• What is the main purpose of

this literature review?

• Who is your target audience?

• What will the final product be?

• Thesis or dissertation

• Journal article

• Grant proposal

• Technical report

Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegarfield/14922664313

Small Group Activity! Image from: https://pixabay.com/en/exchange-of-ideas-debate-discussion-222788/

Activity: Strategies for Lit. Reviews

1. Think about how you have approached a

literature review (with a written product) in the

past.

2. Share with your group some of the strategies you

think work best to accomplish one of the below

tasks:

• search for information resources

• evaluate those resources

• take notes on what you read

• organize the notes and resources you read

1. Think about how you have approached a literature

review (with a written product) in the past.

2. Share with your group some of the strategies you think

work best to accomplish one of the below tasks:

3. As a group, choose one spokesperson.

4. Share ideas with the whole room.

• search for information resources

• evaluate those resources

• take notes on what you read

• organize the notes and resources you read

Activity: Strategies for Lit. Reviews



Search in order to tell a Story

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

Why?

How?

Image from: https://pixabay.com/en/newspaper-news-journal-headline-152320/

A good newspaper article story answers:

Search in order to tell a Story

Who?

What? When?

Where?

Why?

How?

A good literature review (story) ALSO answers:

Useful words for a

Keyword Search

Search Strategies

• Keywords

• AND, OR, NOT, *, and “”

• Author searching

• Look for review articles

• Subject Headings, linked keyword lists

• Footnote chasing / using bibliographies

• Citation tracking (Web of Science & Scopus)

• Keep track of where you’ve looked, what keywords you used.

Image from: https://pixabay.com/en/sherlock-holmes-detective-462978/

Where you Look is Important

• What is a database?

• Advantages of using multiple databases?

• Subject specific

• Multi-disciplinary

• Search in multiple databases

• Discovery Tools :

• UNLV Libraries Quick Search

• Google Scholar

More than journal articles

Other Sources • Conference papers and proceedings

• Standards manuals / handbooks (current and older)

• Chemical and materials property data sources

• Government agency technical reports

• Professional association magazine articles

• Company and trade association white papers

• Patent applications and patent documents

• Data sets

Keeping Up To Date

• Search alerts in

databases

• Table of Contents (TOC)

alerts

• RSS Feeds for journal

and other webpages

Image from: https://pixabay.com/en/alarm-clock-clock-time-minute-hour-590383/

Organizing

• RefWorks

• Mendeley

• Zotero

• EndNote

• 3x5 cards

• BibTeX

Image from:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Don%27t_kill_your_reputation%2C_organize_your_information_-_NARA_-_518156.jpg

When is it time to stop searching?

• Recurring authors

• Recurring institutions, labs

• Recurring settings for experiments/measurements

• Recurring methods or results

Patterns that let you know

you are done with your

search

Law of diminishing returns

Materials found are too

old

(OR you run out of time…) Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newport_Hill_Climb_finish_line.png

Sue Wainscott

[email protected]

702-895-2262

UNLV Libraries home page

(http://library.unlv.edu)

Image from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/223839049

HOW TO WRITE A LITERATURE REVIEW

Refresher: How to Read a Paper Critically

Levels of writing a literature review

How to organize your material before writing

Writing a Level I literature review: bibliographic

annotation

Writing a Level 2 literature review: compare and

contrast

Writing a Level 3 literature review: Integration and

synthesis

How to Read a Paper Critically

Scan:

Title, abstract,

figures, and tables

Read the introduction to get a sense of the study’s

goals.

Quickly read through the

methodology and results.

Do you agree with the results?

Do you have questions?

If this paper looks

promising, do a thorough

read.

This means you must question everything!!!


A THOROUGH READ OF A PAPER MEANS ARMING YOURSELF WITH:

Post-it notes

Highlighter

Ruler

Any other tools to make sure you gain understanding of the subject (website links, thesaurus, etc.)

This assumes you will read hard copy, not online

Having a favorite chair and favorite drink (coffee, hot chocolate, soda) often helps this process!

The point is: you are reading, challenging, and dialoguing with the authors!

http://lakerlutznews.com/lln/?p=18684


A classic:

How to Read a Book

Adler and van Doren ISBN-13: 004-2516291251

ISBN-10: 0671212095

Level I: Basic Assessment

Tabulate

Select

Find the patterns

Categorize (subheads)

Describe

This is also known as a bibliographic annotation.

This level is author-centric.

Levels of Writing a Literature Review



Tabulate

Select

Find the patterns


Describe


Author / Date Title Description

Pautasso, M. / 2013 Ten Simple Rules for Writing a

Literature Review

• Most researchers in the sciences do not plan how to write a literature

review

• Graphically describes the types of literature reviews

• States 10 rules in writing a good literature review.

Taylor-Powell, E.

and Renner, M. /

2003

Analyzing Qualitative Data

• Qualitative Analysis or Content Analysis -- another name for

Literature Review?

• Includes papers, video, photos, other forms of data.

• Five steps: know your data, understand what you want to analyze,

organize your data, find the pattern among data sets, synthesize and

interpret.

Webster, J and

Watson, JT / 2002

Analyzing the Past to Prepare for

the Future: Writing a Literature

Review

• The need for a ‘plot’ or theme

• Emphasis on how to conduct a “complete” search

• Two types of literature reviews: one centers on concepts (synthesis)

and the other centers on authors

• Find the patterns and address the knowledge gaps

• Evaluate your own assessment to see if it is solid

Torraco, RJ / 2005

Writing Integrative Literature

Reviews: Guidelines and

Examples

• “Integrative literature reviews...generate new knowledge about the

topic reviewed.”

• Reviews, synthesizes, and integrates material

• Organize ideas around topics with a rich source of literature; address

the gaps for emerging topics.

• What is the contribution of the literature review? What is the point or

the need?

• Concept structuring and traditional step in writing a literature review

• What sets an integrative LR apart: critical thinking and advanced

synthesis


Tabulate

Select

− What do you want your paper to accomplish?

− What is the focus of your study?

− Find the literature that most closely pertains to your study and use those.

− Work with your faculty advisor

In my literature review, I want to define the three levels of writing a literature review.




Tabulate

Select

Find the patterns


Describe



Pautasso, M. / 2013

Ten Simple Rules for

Writing a Literature

Review

• Most researchers in the sciences do not plan how to write a literature review

• Graphically describes the types of literature reviews


Taylor-Powell, E.

and Renner, M. /

2003

Analyzing Qualitative

Data

• Qualitative Analysis or Content Analysis -- another name for Literature

Review?


• Five steps: know your data, understand what you want to analyze, organize

your data, find the pattern among data sets, synthesize and interpret.

Webster, J and

Watson, JT / 2002

Analyzing the Past to

Prepare for the Future:


Review



• Two types of literature reviews: one centers on concepts (synthesis) and the

other centers on authors



Torraco, RJ / 2005

Writing Integrative

Literature Reviews:

Guidelines and Examples

• “Integrative literature reviews...generate new knowledge about the topic

reviewed.”


• Organize ideas around topics with a rich source of literature; address the gaps

for emerging topics.

• What is the contribution of the literature review? What is the point or the

need?


• What sets an integrative LR apart: critical thinking and advanced synthesis



Pautasso, M. / 2013



Review


• Graphically describes the types of literature reviews to identify what kind of

review to write


Taylor-Powell, E.

and Renner, M. /

2003


Data


Review?




Webster, J and

Watson, JT / 2002




Review







Torraco, RJ / 2005

Writing Integrative

Literature Reviews:



reviewed.”





need?




Tabulate

Select

Find the patterns


Describe

₋ In your own words or

₋ Quoted appropriately


Taylor-Powell, E. and Renner, M. (2003). Analyzing qualitative data. Madison, WI:

University of Wisconsin Extension. Retrieved from

http://learningstore.uwex.edu/pdf/G3658-12.pdf

Taylor-Powell and Renner (2003) discussed a systematic approach to organize and

describe qualitative information, in other words, information that is not in numerical

format. This includes describing the literature regarding a specific topic, results of written

answers in surveys, issues discussed in forums, and anecdotal material, and more. The

material could be written, spoken, or in video, photos, or other forms of media.

These authors emphasize identifying the patterns and organizing the data in categories, an

undertaking that the authors point out is “fairly labor intensive depending on the amount

of data you have” (Taylor-Powell and Renner, 2003), and crucial to the total effort. Once

the categories are established, they state the next step is to find the patterns existing

among the categories. This is the starting point in finding a way to synthesize the material

into a coherent literature review.

Example of a Level 1 literature review (author-centric)

Taylor-Powell, E. and

Renner, M. / 2003

Analyzing

Qualitative Data

• Qualitative Analysis or Content Analysis -- another name for Literature Review?


• Five steps: know your data, understand what you want to analyze, organize your data, find

the pattern among data sets, synthesize and interpret.





Exercise:

Each using their own literature search material, create a

table of three of the papers with Names of Authors,

Title of Paper, and three to five key bullet points for

each paper.

We will give you about 10 minutes to do this.

When you are finished, have another person review

your table and give feedback.


Level 1: Basic Assessment

Not really considered a true literature review

Also known as:

₋ Author-centric literature review

₋ Bibliographic Annotation

₋ This is the level we expect from undergraduates.

We want to move you from Level 1 to Level 2, which is where graduate students should be.

Post-docs and Faculty should be able to write a literature review at Level 3.


Cayla Buttram, David MacMillan III, & Dr. R.T. Koch, Jr. Updated November 2012. University of North Alabama,

Center for Writing Excellence.

http://www.una.edu/writingcenter/docs/Writing-Resources/Comparing%20the%20Annotated%20Bibliography%20to%20the%20Literature%20Review.pdf


Level 2: Compare: Compare and Contrast

Tabulate

Select

− What do you want your paper to accomplish?

− What is the focus of your study?

− Find the literature that most closely pertains to your study and

use those.

− Work with your faculty advisor

Find the patterns

Categorize

Compare and Contrast

Level 2: Compare and Contrast

Level 2: Compare: Contrast or Collate

This is what the literature calls ‘synthesis’ at the most

basic level

You are trying to find the authors that are in agreement

with each other on a conclusion (collate) or disagree

(contrast) on a specific concept

This what Webster and Watson (2002) were talking

about when they distinguished a literature review that

is ‘author-centric’ versus ‘concept-centric’



Webster, J and Watson, RT (2002). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: writing a literature review. MIS

Quarterly. 26:2 pp xiii-xxii. http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2625&context=misq&sei-

redir=1&referer=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3DAnalyzing%2Bthe%2Bpast%2Bto%2Bprepare%2

Bfor%2Bthe%2Bfuture%26btnG%3D%26as_sdt%3D1%252C29%26as_sdtp%3D#search=%22Analyzing%20past%20prepare%20future%22



Pautasso, M. / 2013



Review


• Graphically describes the types of literature reviews to identify what kind of

review to write


Taylor-Powell, E.

and Renner, M. /

2003


Data


Review?




Webster, J and

Watson, JT / 2002




Review







Torraco, RJ / 2005

Writing Integrative

Literature Reviews:



reviewed.”





need?




Dawadi S and Ahmad S (2013). Evaluating the impact of demand-side management on water resources under

changing climatic conditions and increasing population. Journal of Environmental Management. 114: 261-275.

Level 3: Integrate / Synthesis

To be able to write at this level, you need to master

Level 1 and Level 2.

You also need to gain sufficient experience and breadth

of knowledge in your field of expertise

Level 3 has a narrative quality

If you have compared and contrasted at Level 2, at

Level 3 you want to discuss why there were contrasting

results in the first place

At this level, you might be offering your opinion on the

quality and accuracy of other researchers’ work



Dawadi S and Ahmad S (2013). Evaluating the impact of demand-side management on water resources under

changing climatic conditions and increasing population. Journal of Environmental Management. 114: 261-275.

Observations from Dr. Ladkany:

Literature citations are embedded in all the sections of a

paper except for the abstract and the conclusion, which are

your ideas exclusively.

Recommendation:

As you conduct your literature search for any of your

projects, see if you can identify if the literature review in

each paper was written at Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3.


Technical Writing Intensive

Next Friday, April 15th

SEB 1243

9 a.m. to 12 noon

Bring your paper, report, dissertation, or thesis to work on. You will have ample opportunity for one-on-one counseling.

To register, sign up before you leave this workshop today

Questions?

literature review workshop - university of nevada, las vegas · 2019-12-21 · 1. think about how...

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